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| A Little Bit of History | |
| Rev. and Mrs. Peter J. Nickel came to Auke Bay, Alaska, in 1948, where they purchased a "dwelling place," which served as their home for the next 2 years. Soon after settling in, they canvassed the neighborhood and found that there were many families who did not attend any church or Sunday School, so they began a KYB Club (Know Your Bible). It didn't take very long to fill their living room, and they realized they needed a larger meeting place. Within the following year, with God's provision, they were able to purchase some adjoining property. During the summers of 1949 and 1950, with God's provision of lumber, a chapel was built, and the KYB Club began to meet there.
In 1954, Rev. and Mrs. Jacob Hoffman came to Alaska to help in another ministry where the Nickel's were involved -- the Minfield Children's Home. The Lord laid it on the Hoffman's hearts to have a Sunday School and worship service in the little chapel at Auke Bay (the KYB Club just met on Sunday afternoons). The first Sunday School and worship service met on September 19, 1954. As the church grew, some of the attenders became interested in forming a church organization, and so drafted a constitution. On December 1, 1957, twelve men and women signed the constitution as charter members. It was also during this time that the name of the church was changed from Auke Bay Bible Chapel to Gospel Missionary Church. It was now necessary that the church find a place which could become its permanent home since the property that had been used as a church meeting place was private property and not suitable for a whole church, due to space limitations. A lot was obtained, but needed to be cleared and prepared for building. Meanwhile, the previous meeting place had been sold so the church met in the Hoffman's home while the new building was being built. A record attendance of 92 crowded into their home on Easter Sunday 1960. The first meeting in the upstairs sanctuary of the new building was a wedding on December 31, 1960. At the annual church meeting in January of 1961, it was voted to change the name of the church again, this time to Auke Bay Bible Church. Rev. Hoffman also resigned in order to take on new work with the Gospel Missionary Union (GMU). Rev. Bill Kehler served as pastor of Auke Bay several months following Rev. Hoffman, until he and his family transferred to Haines to continue work there. Rev. Hugh Huguley took over as pastor in the summer of 1961 and served here until May 1970. It was he who began to refer to the work as "the church with a warm heart." It conveyed the image and promoted the church character which he trusted would be true and useful for the cause of Christ. It is a title which still appears on our weekly Sunday bulletins, and is hopefully still true of us as a church. Rev. Ray Mainwaring from Shelton, Washington, was then called to be pastor and served from November 1970 until the end of 1974. During the year of 1975, GMU missionaries and other speakers filled the pulpit, until Rev. Johnny Reimer became the pastor of Auke Bay in August 1976. He had come here as a candidate in the fall of 1975, and the church had voted to call him. However, Rev. Reimer had not felt the leading of the Lord to accept the call. As the church waited upon God for His leading, word came from Rev. Reimer that he would like to be reconsidered as pastor. The church immediately voted to call him, and he began his ministry at Auke Bay in August of 1976. While Pastor Johnny was here, the church also called its first youth pastor, Dan Germann. Dan was the youth pastor from 1989 until 1991. Pastor Johnny served here until 1993 when he retired and moved to Glennallen to teach at Alaska Bible College . The church was again without a pastor for the next year, but God was faithful in providing speakers from within the congregation. In the summer of 1994, Pastor Cary Henrichsen was called to be pastor at Auke Bay. During his time here, the church also called another youth pastor, J.R. Gates. J. R. was the youth pastor from January of 1996 until August 1998 when he left to take a position at the Master’s College in California. Jonathan "Hona" Burkholder was officially called to be youth pastor at the Annual Meeting in January of 1999 where he served until August of 2002 then returning back to Bible School. Pastor Cary ministered here at Auke Bay until March of 1999. During the next year and a half when the church was without a pastor, other elders preached from God's Word. God graciously led the church to Pastor Tim Frega who came to candidate in March of 2000. The church almost unanimously called Tim to be pastor at Auke Bay, and he accepted the position. Pastor Tim and his family arrived in Juneau from Sarasota, Florida, in August of 2000, and he is presently serving as the Pastoring elder. |